Spraying structure for an atomizer
A spraying structure for an atomizer includes a main body, an interior of which is provided with a vertically installed liquid container with its opening facing upward, and with a liquid delivery member being located above the container for sucking out the liquid; a power part; and a spraying device. The main body can be provided with the spraying device which takes required power from the power part, and is provided with an actuator to operate a vibratory plate. The vibratory plate is configured slantingly with respect to an end head of the liquid delivery member. Through an action to the vibratory plate by the actuator, liquid in a membrane shape on a surface of the liquid delivery member can be atomized to be sprayed out in a tilted direction, thereby achieving a function of spraying laterally.
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(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spraying structure for an atomizer, and more particularly to a spraying structure which provides a high frequency vibration to actuate mists such that they can be sprayed laterally with respect to a main body eventually, and which enables a residual liquid from an operation to be further returned back to a container.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
It is known that a method of transforming liquid into mists for spraying by a vibration principle has been widely used for scattering medicines or aromatics. In general, a piezoelectric ceramic actuator is primarily used to drive a vibratory plate, a surface of which is provided with actuation holes, such that by a small vibration in high frequency, a surface of liquid can be disintegrated to form an oriented actuation into molecules of mists in small droplets. In addition, through an effect of Brownian motion, fragrances can be mixed into air to change properties of the air, or medicine mists can be created for treatment through inhaling.
Related prior arts include the Japanese patent publication H08-52193, or the Taiwan New Patent publications 523302, 510827, 510826, and 200418713 applied by S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
In order to allow the vibratory plate to effectively actuate the mists, those patents use a piece of piezoelectric ceramic 10 in a disk shape (as shown in
However, these kinds of facilities which actuate mists upward in a vertical direction are provided with many problems in usage. For example, when the liquid absorbed by the liquid delivery member 12 cannot be actuated in time, the excessive liquid will be overflowing to an exterior of the container 13 following the surface of liquid delivery member 12, to stain the container 13 and a usage part (such as a desktop), thereby causing a loss of the liquid. On the other hand, when the vibratory plate 11 is vibrating to actuate the mists, a precipitation may occur at an upper surface of a structural indentation part of the vibratory plate 11 due to a possible agglomeration of the liquid and instability of actuation power. Furthermore, after a first actuation, some mist droplets will not have a uniform diameter or will be enlarged from combination to be sunk back to the container, due to an aperture of very fine holes and operational frequency, which allows the mists to be precipitated on the surface of vibratory plate 11 from the excessive liquid, during a second actuation, thereby causing a loss of driving energy and an incomplete actuation of mists. When the aforementioned structure is an off time, the liquid will be sucked to be attached upward due to a capillary effect resulting from the liquid delivery member 12 itself or from an interaction of the liquid delivery member 12 with the contact surface of vibratory plate 11, and then it will be dripped downward after being accumulated to a certain mass.
Although in the Japanese patent publication H08-52193, a tilted board is added to guide the mists to spray in a tilted direction, the tilted board will cause a structural impedance to the mists such that an appearance and spraying direction will be limited, and as the mists are accumulated on a surface of the tilted board to be dripped back to an interior of the machine or on the vibratory plate 11, the function of vibratory plate 11 will be reduced. In addition, when the machine is in off times, the liquid in an upper container will be seeped down along the tilted board.
In practice, to overcome the aforementioned problems of conventional vertical mists spraying devices, most of the vendors focus on the improvement of functions of the actuation holes of vibratory plates, and actuators. However, as the effect of atomization will also be affected by inherent physical properties of the liquid delivery members, and the mists can be only provided vertically to a space above, a driving by fan will be needed to change a direction of scattering if the mists are to be sprayed to the ambient space.
Moreover, in order to have a function that the mists can be sprayed laterally, as shown in
The primary object of present invention is to provide a spraying structure for an atomizer, wherein the actuated mists can be sprayed in a tilted direction, can be further sprayed laterally, and possible residual liquid from multiple external factors after spraying can be recovered in a container.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a spraying structure for an atomizer, wherein a vibratory plate is configured slantingly with respect to a liquid delivery member, and through the slant configuration of vibratory plate, the mists sprayed will be moving in a parabolic curve, thereby being sprayed laterally, eventually.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a spraying structure for an atomizer, wherein due to the slant configuration of vibratory plate, the mists can be prevented from being agglomerated and returned back vertically, and the actuation holes of vibratory plate can be prevented from being precipitated by the returned mists in an off or on time, such that the actuation holes can be kept at an optimal condition of aperture. In addition, the droplets of mists can be kept uniformly miniaturized, and a lifetime of usage can be extended correspondingly.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a spraying structure for an atomizer, wherein an end of the vibratory plate is surrounded by a recovery device which can intercept the mists. In addition to recovering the liquid which is returned back along the vibratory plate, the recovery device can also recover the excessive liquid which cannot be actuated on a surface of the liquid delivery member immediately.
To enable a further understanding of the said objectives and the technological methods of the invention herein, the brief description of the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of the preferred embodiments.
Referring to
The aforementioned spraying device 5 is primarily composed of a vertically installed liquid container 51 with its opening facing upward. The liquid container 51 is positioned by a latching seat 35, and is kept upright. An interior of the liquid container 51 contains a working fluid 52 which can be a liquid medicine or aromatics. A liquid delivery member 6 is located at an exit above the liquid container 51, and can be a liquid absorbing fiber or cotton core, which is used primarily to suck out the working fluid within the liquid container 51, and is therefore preferably made by a material of soft cotton core or with a capillary effect.
A vibration member 7 is composed of a cubical-shape piezoelectric ceramic actuator 71 which is assembled with a vibratory plate 72 by a suspension method. An end of the vibratory plate 72 is connected to the actuator 71, and a surface of the vibratory plate 72 is provided with tiny actuation holes. By the suspension method, the vibratory plate 72 can be formed into a bare shape to completely develop vibration energy. In addition, there will be no other staining mechanism for possible residual liquid to be easily drained, due to the bare-plate shape of the vibratory plate 72. Besides, as the vibration wave is accumulated at the bare-shape vibratory plate 72, the possibly stained liquid will completely receive the vibration wave to be forced to release; therefore, the suspension method can prevent the residual liquid from being attached.
The vibration member 7 is fixed slantingly by a suspension seat 36 which is installed in an interior of the main body 3. After the vibration member 7 is assembled and fixed, its actuation surface will be specifically in contact with a surface at a corner end on a top of the liquid delivery member 6, in a tilted direction; wherein a cross section of the liquid delivery member 6 can be physically a circular shape or any geometric shape. In addition, an end of the suspension seat 36 is extended with a recovery device 37, which is surrounded on a periphery of the liquid delivery member 6 and the vibration member 7, and a surface at an upper end of which is formed with a collection slot 371 being concaved inward and downward. The actuator 71 and the vibratory plate 72 are assembled with the suspension method, and can be linearly assembled on a same plane. Accordingly, the actuator 71 is also installed slantingly in an interior of the housing 31, with respect to a top of the recovery device 37, thereby allowing the residual liquid coming from the vibratory plate 72 or the liquid delivery member 6 to flow down along a tilted and downward direction.
To accomplish the aforementioned functions, a longitudinal line of the actuator 71 can be also made to be vertical to a ground surface and to be parallel to the container, and the vibratory plate 72 should be bended to form a tilted relation with respect to the actuator 71.
Referring to
By using the tilted contact of present invention, the aforementioned advantages can be available; and using the tilted positioning, the vibratory plate 72 can be kept as clean as the aperture of actuation holes. Therefore, under a specified condition, the liquid can be uniformly atomized, and during the process of spraying, the exterior surface of housing can be kept clean due to that the mist droplets can be carried by ambient air to release from the housing in time, because of their uniformity.
After the liquid is actuated by the high frequency vibration of vibratory plate 72, the excessive liquid will return back along the vibratory plate 72 due to the tilted surface, and then flow into the collection slot 371 of recovery device 37 at a lower end of the vibratory plate 72, to be prevented from leaking out. In addition, a part of the liquid membrane formed at an entire upper end head of the liquid delivery member 6 that is not in contact with the opposite face of the vibratory plate 72 will not be actuated, and the non-actuated liquid membrane will be accumulated into liquid drops, resulting from the effect of vibration wave and the compensation of capillary effect, to overflow downward due to an effect of gravitational force. The overflowed drops can be recovered through the collection slot 371.
As shown in the drawings, a sheathing member 38 can be installed at a middle section of the contact position between the recovery device 37 and the liquid delivery member 6. The sheathing member 38 is a ring which is made by a liquid absorbing material, and can be attached to an outer circumference of the liquid delivery member 6 to form the capillary effect for holding a large amount of returned liquid, and to form a mutual compensation with the liquid delivery member 6.
Through the aforementioned structures, most of the residual liquid can be recovered, whereas an exterior surface of the liquid delivery member 6 below the recovery device 37 can also be possibly provided with a small amount of accumulated liquid. A recovery seal cap 8 is located between the liquid delivery member 6 and the container 51, and is covered on a top end of the liquid container 51. By an arc-shape corner 81 at a contact end between the recovery seal cap 8 and the liquid delivery member 6, the small amount of down-streaming liquid can be affined to a surface of the liquid delivery member 6 and be absorbed into a core of the liquid delivery member 6, which will in turn be returned back to the container.
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The present invention further provides an independent diversion member in a path between the liquid delivery member and the vibratory plate. By an introduction of the diversion member, the opening of liquid delivery member of liquid container can be conveniently positioned at a high, low location or any orientation, to effectively expel the liquid. Therefore, a precision for positioning the container can be neglected, which is relatively convenient to a simple latching-type installation. In addition, a certain contact pressure can be maintained for the vibratory plate and the diversion member, so as to achieve a constant actuation of mists. Referring to
Accordingly, by the introduction of independent diversion member 600, in replacing the container 51, the upper end opening 62 of liquid delivery member 6 can be connected with the coupling interface 601 installed by the diversion member 600, at any close proximity, such that the precision for positioning the container 51 can be neglected. On the other hand, the ordinary container 51 is latched into the device by bare hands, the container body is made by a glass, the size of product changes widely, and some containers can be usually loosened without falling out after being latched in. However, in the present invention, a certain amount of contact pressure with the vibratory plate is maintained at one end of the liquid delivery member; therefore, there is no need to intentionally adjust the position.
In principle, during an operation of replacing the liquid container 51, it is only required that the upper end opening 62 is in contact with the coupling interface 601, to enable the liquid which is sucked up by the liquid delivery member 6 to be in contact with the coupling interface 601, and the assembly pressure between the end opening 62 and the coupling interface 601 is not important. As the diversion member 600 has been already fixed at a certain position of the main body 3, its upper end opening and the vibratory plate 72 have acquired the predetermined constant shear stress; therefore, after the container 51 is positioned for being assembled with the end opening of liquid delivery member 6, the working fluid can be absorbed by the coupling interface 601 indirectly. This method provides a wide flexibility in a high, low location of positioning the container 51, and enables the vibration member 7 to produce a stable amount of atomization.
If the diversion member 600 of present invention is implemented on the suspension seat 36 as shown in the drawings, an upper end surface of the suspension seat 36 is provided with a recovery device 37 which also contains a collection slot 371, in order to divert the possible residual liquid to the diversion member 600, thereby accomplishing the object of recovering.
According to a requirement of target tools to be used, the diversion member 600 can be vertical to a ground surface. Therefore, to an application of the recovery device 37, the residual liquid can be recovered. After the large amount of residual liquid is recovered, they will be returned back to the liquid delivery member 6 through the coupling interface 601, and then the saturated liquid will be returned back to the container 51 by the liquid delivery member 6, thereby accomplishing the complete recovery of the residual liquid, so as to prevent a staining to the ambient environment or an unnecessary loss.
The diversion member 600 can be fixed on the main body 3 by locking with any hardware measure, or by a clipping force of the structures. Basically, the diversion member 600 is a single body having a capillary function, and can be made by any material having the capillary function.
Referring to
The container 51 can be positioned with a same mechanical structure as with the main body 3.
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The aforementioned diversion member 600 is affixed on the vibratory plate 72 by abutting, so as to provide the liquid membrane formed to the vibratory plate 72 for actuating. It is naturally that the magnitude of contact pressure between the vibratory plate 72 and the diversion member 600 will change the amount of atomization, with its requirement being able to be adjusted based on the condition of target object, or with a change of working frequency or power of the vibratory plate; both of which can adjust the quantity of atomization.
Referring to
The aforementioned microprocessor unit 102 provides a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signal output. An input end of the driving unit 102 is connected with an output end of the aforementioned microprocessor unit 101, and after the PWM signal provided by the microprocessor unit 101 is received, a driving signal will be outputted. The voltage-boosting unit 103 includes a transformer or a piezoelectric ceramic, and its input end is connected with an output end of the aforementioned driving unit 102 to boost up the voltage, so as to drive the actuator (ceramic piece) 71 to generate the vibration. The feedback unit 102 is connected between the actuator 71 and the microprocessor unit 101, and the microprocessor unit 101 will determine a duty cycle of output clock based on an average current of the actuator 71 which is detected through the feedback unit (current feedback) 104, thereby controlling the average current of the actuator 71.
When the driving circuit 100 is operating, the microprocessor unit 101 will output a PWM signal to drive the driving unit 102 to operate, thereby enabling the voltage-boosting unit 103 to increase the voltage. After the voltage is increased, the actuator 71 will be driven to generate the vibration, and the vibratory plate 72 will be driven to operate, which results in an atomization to the liquid membrane which is located on the vibratory plate 72, and is coming from the liquid delivery member 6.
As the present invention uses the PWM signal and a transformer to carry out an impedance conversion, the operating voltage can be as low as 1.8 VDC. In addition, by using the feedback method to detect the output power, and using the constant voltage, the circuit can automatically modulate based on a change of load (the actuator 71), such that the output can be a constant. On the other hand, the circuit structure can be sustained with a change of ±50% of voltage, and can still maintain a stable output, thereby providing a even wider range of application.
In the mean time, using the duty cycle to modulate the output power is different from the ordinary method of using a driving voltage to modulate the power; which will be even more stable, more power saving, and can achieve a satisfied amount of atomization under a loss of total power of 0.4 W.
Furthermore, in performing a damping factor conversion from using the transformer, the driving circuit 100 can be completely in cooperation with a static capacity of the ceramic piece (the actuator 71), such that the shape of vibration wave can be closer to a sine wave, thereby completely eliminating an interference of EMI (Electro-Magnetic Impulse).
Moreover, a first modulation unit 105 and a second modulation unit 106 can be added to the circuit, wherein the first and second modulation units 105, 106 are constituted by variable resistors. The aforementioned first modulation unit 105 can adjust the working frequency freely, whereas the second modulation unit 106 can adjust the output power freely.
It is of course to be understood that the embodiments described herein is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that a wide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.
Claims
1. A spraying structure for an atomizer comprising a main body which is provided with an opening for forming a channel of spraying mists, a power part, and a spraying device; the main body being provided with the spraying device which takes the required power from the power part; the spraying device including a vibration member which is constituted by an actuator and a vibratory plate, and which is used to vibrate a liquid membrane sucked up from a surface of a liquid delivery member for atomizing; the aforementioned liquid delivery member being vertical to a ground surface along its longitudinal direction, and the vibratory plate being slantingly in contact with an upper end of the liquid delivery member for actuating.
2. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 1, wherein a periphery of the aforementioned liquid delivery member is surrounded by a recovery device, and an upper end of the recovery device is formed with a collection slot pointed to the liquid delivery member.
3. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 2, wherein the collection slot of the aforementioned recovery device is extended to a lower part of the vibration member, so as to guide the liquid which is returned along the vibratory plate to flow toward the liquid delivery member.
4. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 1, wherein a power of the aforementioned vibration member is adjusted through a circuit which is a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)-type circuit.
5. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 1, wherein an upper end of the liquid delivery member is in a cylindrical shape.
6. A spraying structure for an atomizer comprising a main body, a power part, and a spraying device; the main body being provided with the spraying device which takes the required power from the power part, the spraying device including a vibration member which is constituted by an actuator and a vibratory plate, and which is used to vibrate a liquid membrane sucked up from a surface of a liquid delivery member for atomizing; a periphery of the aforementioned liquid delivery member being surrounded by a recovery device, and an upper end of the aforementioned recovery device being formed with a collection slot pointed to the liquid delivery member.
7. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 6, wherein the aforementioned recovery device is distributed and extended to a lower part of the vibration member.
8. A spraying structure for an atomizer, especially a spraying structure which actuates mists by high frequency vibration, comprising a vibration member which is constituted by a piezoelectric ceramic assembled with a vibratory plate, and which is assembled at a corner of the main body, as a whole; an independently and vertically arranged diversion member being located at a working side relative to the vibratory plate, in order to suck up the working fluid indirectly, an end of the diversion member being in contact with the aforementioned working side of the vibratory plate, and the other end of diversion member being formed with a coupling interface.
9. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 8, wherein the diversion member and the vibration member are assembled together at a suspension seat installed by the main body.
10. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 8, wherein the coupling interface installed by the diversion member is axially connected with a buffering bridge member.
11. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 8, wherein an end of the diversion member is a flat abutting surface.
12. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 8, wherein an end of the diversion member is provided with an inward indentation.
13. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 8, wherein an end of the diversion member is inward provided with a latching slot, along an axis direction.
14. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 13, wherein the latching slot is a cone-shape slot.
15. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 8, wherein an end of the diversion member which is in contact with the vibratory plate is in a cylindrical shape.
16. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 8, wherein a periphery of the diversion member is surrounded by a recovery device, and an upper end of which is formed with a collection slot pointed to the diversion member.
17. The spraying structure for an atomizer according to claim 8, wherein the vibratory plate is slantingly in contact with an upper end of the diversion member.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 2, 2006
Publication Date: Feb 21, 2008
Applicant:
Inventors: Wen-Pin Chen (Taipei), Nai-Ying Jean (Taipei)
Application Number: 11/497,420
International Classification: B05B 1/08 (20060101);